LONDON, Oct 1: The chimes of Big Ben rang out on Monday for the first time since repairs silenced the giant clock seven weeks ago.

The “bongs” on the 96-metre-high clock tower at the Houses of Parliament chimed at 1100 GMT in a fog-shrouded event broadcast live to the nation by BBC television. They had been stopped since marking 0700 GMT on Aug 11.

Big Ben, which celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2009, is the nickname for what is officially called The Great Clock, but in strict terms the name only refers to the 13.8-ton bell that chimes every hour.

It was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the commissioner of works, when the bell was installed in 1859.

The four clock faces have a diameter of seven metres and contain 312 separate pieces of glass. The minute hand is 4.3 metres long and the hour hand 2.7 metres long, and the figures each measure 60 centimetres.

The original bell came from the first Palace of Westminster and was given to the dean of St Paul’s Cathedral by king William III in the 17th century.

The clock, which is minutely regulated through a stack of old penny coins on the massive pendulum, has stopped before due to accidents involving weather, workmen, breakages and birds.—AFP